U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear 'juvenile lifer' cases, could have major impact in Michigan

AP File PhotoFacing the court: Thomas McCloud Jr., 14, left, and Dontez Tillman, also 14, enter the courtroom before the start of a hearing in Pontiac on Nov. 18, 2008. The two were convicted in the death of Wilford Hamilton, 65, a homeless man.

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear two cases involving whether life sentences without chance of parole for minors in death cases constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

With more "juvenile lifers" serving the mandatory sentences in Michigan than almost any other state, 358, the high court's decision could have a large impact here.

The ruling comes as a similar case makes its way through federal court in Detroit. It was not immediately clear what impact Monday's decision will have on the progress of the Michigan case.

In 2010, the court extended protections, ruling a minor could not be sentenced to life without parole in non-homicide cases.

In both cases, the majority of justices ruled juveniles' mental abilities are lesser developed than adults, and sentencing them as such violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

The new cases would move the bar even further, banning mandatory life involving juvenile homicides, including when the juvenile was present at a crime, but did not commit the actual killing. About one-third of Michigan juvenile lifers fall in that category.

Both inmates in the cases involve 14-year-olds. But some Supreme Court watchers believe the justices would be unlikely to confine their ruling to that specific age, given their prior rulings using the 18th birthday as the constitutional dividing line.

There are about 70 such prisoners nationwide, according to the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit law firm in Alabama that represents the inmates.

Six juvenile lifers in in Michigan were 14 at the time of their crimes, including Dontez Tillman, the state's youngest. He was profiled Monday on Mlive.com.